Syria Kurds retake prison, ending six-day IS attack

Kurdish forces yesterday retook full control of a prison in northeast Syria where Islamic State group jihadists had been holed up since attacking it six days earlier.

The brazen IS jailbreak attempt and ensuing clashes left more than 180 dead in the jihadists' most high-profile military operation since the loss of their "caliphate" nearly three years ago.

Ghwayran prison in the city of Hasakeh was thought to hold around 3,500 IS inmates when the initial attack was first launched on January 20 with explosives-laden vehicles steered by suicide bombers.